


To Slip Beneath The Surface And Soar Along The Silent Bottom Of The Sea

by afteriwake



Series: The Delight To Be Found Beneath The Water [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Awesome Molly, Awesome Molly Hooper, Cute Kids, First Meetings, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Inspired by Fanart, Kid Molly, Kid Sherlock, Male-Female Friendship, Meet-Cute, Merman Sherlock, POV Molly Hooper, Platonic Kissing, Prince Sherlock, Princess Molly, Sherlock Being Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes Has a Heart, Sherlock's Pet, mermaid molly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 05:12:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7421296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prince Sherlock and Princess Molly are from different realms in the sea and meet by happenstance one day while Sherlock is out with his pet fish and Molly is looking for valuable treasures in the sand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Slip Beneath The Surface And Soar Along The Silent Bottom Of The Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rebka18](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rebka18/gifts).



> So this is another one of the cheer-up fics I offered to write for members of the Sherlock fandom! **Rebka18** has recently begun drawing a mermaid AU and asked me to write a story with mermaid Sherlolly, and I decided I wanted to write a fic as the start of a series (to go with her series of drawings) based on one of her graphics, so I decided to base it on one of the first ones (so it's not a _shippy_ story, but still Sherlolly). This was the image I chose:
> 
> [ ](http://rebka18.tumblr.com/post/146690706511/sooo-i-just-made-new-kidlock-merlock-au-heres)
> 
>   
>  The title of the story comes from a quote from Ellen Meloy (" _...to slip beneath the surface and soar along the silent bottom of the sea agile and shining in water honeycombed with light._ ") 

“This is all your fault!”

Princess Molly started at the unexpected sound of someone else's voice. She wasn’t used to there being anyone else in this part of the ocean. _She_ wasn’t supposed to be here, herself, but she had snuck away from her tutors and the royal court and what seemed like nine hundred million people who were all around all the time as well as her mother and father to go explore and find more treasures among the sand. Her collection was most impressive if she did say so herself, but that was because she went to the farthest reaches of her kingdom to find them. But it was dangerous, sneaking away from those who were supposed to protect her, and now that she had heard someone else, she started to worry. Maybe she shouldn’t have gone so far away today.

She crept towards the rocks to see who was speaking, and when she caught sight of the person who had talked she was surprised to see it was another mermaid like her. Well, not a mer _maid_. A mer _man_. A young one, just a boy, not much older than her. And he was trying to get something caught from out of a tangle of kelp, muttering as he did. “I could help?” she said before she really thought about it.

He yelped slightly and turned to face her. “Who are you?” he said, reaching for a small sling on a belt on his waist.

“Pr--” she began, and then stopped. He could still be a threat. Best not to reveal she was royalty. “I’m Molly,” she said.

He gave her a slightly haughty look. “I’m Prince Sherlock,” he said.

“Prince?” she said, her eyes wide. She knew who he was. Her parents had said she was to meet him, eventually. Perhaps even to _marry_ him, if they were well suited for each other. She didn’t want to marry! She wanted to explore the seas and have adventures and be free. Especially when he seemed so..so...haughty and rather mean. She straightened herself up. “Yes, well, I’m a Princess,” she said.

“ _You’re_ Princess Molly?” he said, tilting his head, the haughtiness toning down slightly. “You're shorter than I expected.”

She pouted, glaring slightly. “Yes, well, you seem meaner.”

“I’m...sorry,” he said. “I’m just in a foul mood. My pet fish Redspot is trapped. I can’t get him free.”

“Oh!” she said, her irritation melting away. She swam over to him, looking at the kelp. Lo and behold, there was a coral hawkfish all tangled in the greenery, struggling to get free. “Oh, dear. It looks like it’s wrapped all around his caudal peduncle and fin.”

“And it’s cutting in,” Sherlock said. “But I don’t have a knife to cut him loose.”

“I don’t have a knife, but I have sharp shells among my treasures that might work?” Molly said, looking up at Sherlock. “Let me go get my box.” She swam back to the other side of the rocks and then picked up her box of treasures that she had collected that day and then brought it over to Sherlock. He began looking through it, examining each one, looking to see what would work best for the situation at hand. Finally, he found a shell with a rough, jagged edge and he leaned down to begin sawing away at the kelp wrapped around Redspot’s peduncle and fin. Once the fish was free he began to swim around, coming up to tap Sherlock on the forehead and cheek, and then Molly as well. “Why is he doing that?”

“It means he likes you,” Sherlock said with a grin. He handed her back her shell. “Your treasure was immensely useful. Thank you.”

“Do you want to help me find some more?” she blurted out. “I was going to look at a wreck over there.” She pointed to her right. “If you want to, I mean. I don’t have company most of the time, but...you seem nicer now.”

“I suppose I could, as long as I don’t stray too far away,” he said. “I’m not supposed to sneak off but it’s so _boring_ at the royal court.”

“Oh it is!” she said. “All the lessons in ‘decorum’ and ‘deportment’ and how to be a ‘proper lady,’ in my case.”

He grinned. “And all the ‘dos and don’ts’,” he said as they headed off to the right to look at her next trove of treasures. “It could drive someone mad.”

“Exactly. It’s nice to get away sometimes.” She pointed to a weird bottle of some sort. “See? All sorts of neat stuff.”

“It’s a beaker,” he said, his eyes wide. “My tutor uses them for experiments. He’s a scientist. I’d love to take this home.”

“Sure!” she said. “It can be the start of your treasure trove.”

He grinned and leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “You aren’t bad for a princess from another realm,” he said. “Friends?”

“Friends,” she said, warming slightly at the cheeks. “Let’s see about getting you a box, okay? You’ll need one for all of your treasures.” He nodded, and they went off to find a box for him. She was glad she had a friend now, she realized. It made it even more fun to be out and about with a friend as opposed to being alone.


End file.
